The Inside Sales Agent goes by many names. From phone animals to call crushers, whatever you call them, there’s no denying the role they play on a real estate team.
In fact, the Inside Sales Agent (ISA) team model is a popular way to structure a team for lead follow-up. But deciding whether it’s a good fit for your business in terms of generating more leads and appointments can be difficult. Let’s take a look at exactly what an ISA is and how one could help you or your team.
What Is an Inside Sales Agent?
According to data from the National Association of Realtors, over 5 million homes were sold in 2017. If you missed out on leads and sales, it could be because you haven’t had the right hands on deck.
We don’t mean a receptionist or personal assistant – as an ISA is often mistaken for.
At it’s very basic, an ISA’s purpose is to concentrate on inside sales. An ISA is very similar to an outside sales agent. But they don’t attend buyer appointments or walk the client through the selling process.
Rather, ISAs are highly trained and experienced salespeople. An ISA carries a license and can do exactly the same thing as an outside agent in terms of setting appointments and nurturing leads.
So, you may be wondering what the point is? Why not give the tasks to your current assistant?
Well, the key purpose of having ISAs on your team is for leverage. As an agency faced with a never-ending list of demands, having a dedicated ISA leveraging follow-ups, scheduling appointments, and taking care of lead generation means your business is likely to see as many as 70 additional transactions.
It’s All About Cultivation and Lead Generation
ISAs are truly masters of lead generation and cultivation. An experienced ISA can set appointments with even the hardest of cold leads. That takes some skill. It’s also what sets an ISA apart from a general assistant.
It should be noted that some agencies prefer to break the ISA model into inbound and outbound. The thinking behind this is that some personality types suit outbound while others are more driven to making cold calls.
It all comes down to the size of your team and the demands on your agency.
How Can an ISA Increase Sales for Your Business?
Many businesses hire salespeople with the purpose of increasing sales. It’s a dedicated department that concentrates on generating leads through cold calls.
However, an ISA is your business’s first point of contact for everything from inbound sales inquiries to listing inquiries, ad responses, and everything in between.
The best ISAs have ample sales experience, but they still need the training to conduct the kind of lead nurturing and setting up of appointments needed for this inside sales role.
A successful ISA will train on a regular basis. Tracking their activities and determining conversion rates for key metrics such as contacts-to-appointments are both great ways to motivate your inside sales agents. And motivate them to hone their skills.
As for nurturing your ISA, follow-up attempts, conversations, and response times should all be tracked for future use. You can then compare the tracked activities to preset goals in an effort to maintain accountability.
Are You Ready to Hire an ISA?
Are you struggling to reach out to your leads? Or maybe prospecting for new leads has become a complete afterthought in the struggle to keep up with a demanding industry. If so, an inside sales agent might be your next important hire.
Think of it like this: how much more productive could your current team be if lead follow-up and prospecting were taken off their hands?
Besides all that, evidence shows that hiring the right ISA can produce an exceptional return on investment for your real estate firm. When leads are followed up promptly, and you have a solid system in place for prospecting those new leads, your business can only continue to flourish.
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